Oil cup



Jan. 2, 19.40- M. w. BAUMAN OIL CUP F i led May 10, 1958 k Zhwentor Mrle W Bauman attorney Patented Jan. 2 1946 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE 01L CUP Merle Baum-an, Seattle, Wash. Application May 10, 1938, Serial No. 207,046 1 Claim. (01. 308--125) My present invention relates to oil cups and is an improvement over my copending patent application, Serial Number 163,778, filed September 14, 1937, and entitled Lubricator. The primary objects of the present invention are to provide an oil cup that has no relatively fixed elemental po-ints and which may therefore be connected to any and all formsand sizes of bearings. Further objects are to reduce the oil cup to its ultimate simplicity and efficiency, and to make it durable in construction, easy to replenish with,

oil, and which is fool proof in its use and manipulation. Still further objects are to provide novel means for securing the discharge ends of the wick into a bearing, and also to provide threaded means for connecting the cup to the upper or cap member of a bearing whereby it may be set up until the bottom of the cup rests securely against the rounded top of the bearing member and whereby the. warmth of the bearing is communicated to the cup thus keeping the oil therein in a thinly fluid condition particularly during cold weather so that it feeds freely through the wick at all times. In the drawing:

Figure l is a View in central longitudinal vertical section showing the oil cup connected to the upper or cap member of a bearing; and

Fig. 2 is a View in transverse vertical section taken substantially on a broken line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring in detail to the drawing wherein like reference numerals indicate like parts in the several views, the numeral 5 designates the upper or cap member of a bearing which is set upon a shaft 6 that is shown in dotted lines. A standard pipe threaded hole 'l extends centrally and vertically through the bearing member to a communication with the shaft. A pair of smaller holes 8 extend upward from the shaft into the bearing, each being located near the respective ends of the bearing member. A pair of grooves 9 extend respectively from the hole I to the holes 8. It will be understood that the holes 1 and 8 andthe grooves 9 all lie in the same vertical 45 plane.

The oil cup comprises a cylindrical bowl In which has a lid ll hinged to its top portion at l2. A relatively large central upstanding wick conduit 13 is integral with the bottom of the bowl and extends from a point a short distance below the top of the bowl to a point a short dis tance below its bottom. The portion of said Wick conduit which extends below the bottom. of the bowl is threaded at M to fit the threaded hole I. 55 One of the important features of the invention resides in the fact that said depending portion of the wick conduit is threaded all the way to the bottom of the'bowl or in such other manner that it may be screwed down so that the bottom of the bowl engages against the top of the bearing 5. 5 This feature is important for the reason that the frictional heat that is created in the bearing member 5 by the rotating shaft 6 is readily communicated to the bowl l0 and. keeps the oil l5 therein in a thinner or more fiuidcondition so 10 that it flows freely through the wick H5 at all times. i I

' In the assembly and use of the device, assuming that the bowl I0 is threadedly connected to the bearing member 5 as shown in the drawing, the wick I6 is threaded through the upstanding conduit it with several inches projecting both above and below same. The depending part of the wick is then separated into two substantially equal portions ll, and each respective portion is fitted into the two grooves 9 extending in opposite directions from the central hole I. The respective ends of said wick portions are inserted into the small holes 8, and small wooden pegs or wedges l8 are forced into said holes for the pur- 25 pose of securing said ends therein as will be understood. The upper portion of the wick is laid down into the bowl which is then filled with the oil 55 to a point slightly below the upper end of the conduit I3.

Making the conduit I3 of unusually large diameter in cross section is a very important point in this invention. In so doing the body of the wick it is made to comprise an abnormally large number of strands of standard wicking and sufficient to fill the conduit without any jamming. Furthermore, when this wick is separated into the two equal parts i! there is suiiicient wicking in each part to completely fill the grooves and to bulge slightly outside of same, as shown in Fig.2, and thus ensure contact with. the shaft 6. Moreover, it has been discovered that, after this wick has become thoroughly saturated with oil, its strands may be clipped off, a'few at a time, at the top of the conduit, as shown at E9 in Fig. l, until only several remain as feeders for the oil. In fact it has been found that only two strands are sufiicient to supply oil tov the body of the wick for a bearing and shaft of considerable size. A test extending over a period of approximately a year has shown that an oil cup made in accordance with the foregoing description resulted in a saving of two-thirds of the oil used in the cup which it displaced, and with no burnt'out hearings or shaft trouble whatever, This saving in oil results from the fact that the shaft 6 takes oilfrom the cup ill through the wick IS by attractive absorption only at times when it is needed by the shaft and in the correct amount that is needed, without any loss. This cup may be installed on any bearing of normal size for the reason that it has no elements of fixed relation, the threaded hole I may be at any point in the top of a bearing, and the plug-in holes 8 may be placed at any desired distance from the hole '4', depending upon the length of the bearing on which the cup is to be installed. Placing the shall holes 8 close to the ends of the bearing supplies sufficient lubricant for its ends without waste of the oil.

I claim:

The combination with the upper or cap member of a bearing having a large hole threaded dowm ward therethrough, a pair of smaller holes each extending upward into the bearing a short distance from its respective ends, and a pair of grooves extending respectively from the large hole to each of the smaller holes, of an oil cup comprising a bowl, a largewick conduit extending from a point a short distance below the top of the bowl to a point a short distance below its bottom, the depending portion of said conduit threaded all the way to the bottom of the bowl,

said depending conduit portion threaded all the way into the hole through the bearing member with thebottom of the bowl engaging the top of said bearing member, ailarge wickapassing from the bowl downward through the conduit and out ward through the large hole in the bearing, said MERLE W. BAUMAN. 

